Darkest Mercy

The thrilling conclusion to Melissa Marr's #1 New York Times bestselling Wicked Lovely series will leave readers leondumoulin.nl Summer King is missing; the.
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Mar 13, Katie rated it really liked it Shelves: These books have the most beautiful names, where does she get them? View all 9 comments. Oct 04, Arlene rated it it was amazing Shelves: When I told you I wanted to try, I spoke the truth. When I turned away, it was for my former court, and when I tried to make another faery love me, it was for that court. You… Darkest Mercy was the perfect series finale for Wicked Lovely. I am gushing right now because I loved this book… TO. PI Undoubtedly 5 Stars!! I could not have asked for anything more in terms of an ending for my favorite faery series.

His final sacrifice made my heart drop!! I did not even phantom that was even possible!!! She makes her characters fight, struggle, and sacrifice but not without their just rewards. The final battle was EPIC!! I loved how throughout this final book Marr was adamant about one thing — she is willing to spare characters to ensure the storyline progresses properly. Melissa Marr is fearless and she makes her characters earn their ending whether it be a happy one or simply what they deserve.

I will stand behind my previous opinion on how Fragile Eternity and Radiant Shadows came off as filler books. To be honest, this final installment does not need those two books to deliver this flawless ending. I highly recommend fans of the first few books give this installment a try. View all 64 comments. Mar 02, kari rated it it was ok Shelves: I've made it to the end of the story and I'm left with the feeling that Marr has a better story in her head that what actually appears on the page.

While she might know what she means, she hasn't expressed it particularly well. Here's what I think: If you're going to continue to refer to a character's backstory, then at some point you have to tell me that backstory or the current story has no foundation. I'm still waiting to find out what exactly Rae is. I'm waiting to find out how the Shadow Court affects the Faerie world.

How does Sorcha feel about a new court just popping up in the world she controls?

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That isn't good when the story is completed. And no, I wouldn't be interested in reading a story about who Rae is, what a dreamwalker is and what she was before that. In world-building, the world needs to be explained, clearly and sensibly so that as a reader I can lose myself there. I was never able in five books to ever get truly caught up in Marr's world. She tosses the reader into it with no supports. There are all these characters which she seems to assume everyone knows. I've said this before but I feel I needed to read these books with the encyclopedia of fey creatures next to me, but that wouldn't be too helpful because it would actually have to be the fey world according to Marr.

After five books, I shouldn't still feel confused. Having said that, the story here did move me at times and Marr did at the very least give the big battle that has been building throughout the series. There are some surprising twists and turns along the way. While I am happy with where everyone ended up, I was disappointed that Ash seemed to have been relegated to almost a secondary character while Donia and Keenan took center stage along with Seth and Neill. I felt somewhat short-changed on Ash's story. She has spent too much of the story either moping because one or both of her boys was gone or resisting, kind of maybe or maybe not, Keenan.

When this is resolved, she makes the adjustments far too easily. That's all I can say without spoilers. All in all, I don't think I'd sign on for another Marr series. A single book, maybe.

055 – Darkest Mercy by Melissa Marr

View all 40 comments. Sep 18, Vicki Keire rated it it was amazing. On the day I received my copy of Darkest Mercy, I was late. I'd just driven five and a half hours through one of the poorest regions in the United States after teaching most of the day on very little sleep. I was frightened; I had never seen the kind of poverty I'd just driven through, solo, to get to a book signing in Jackson, Mississippi.

I slid into a metal folding chair next to a man who looked at me funny. I didn't blame him. I had no idea what was going on and I probably needed a shower. Many fine writers graced a low stage. One, in particular, was the reason I'd come: I had, in fact, claimed that I would crawl through glass to meet her. One writer said something about trivia questions. I remembered a crossroads in lower Alabama where children played in front of a burned out building next to a liquor store. It was the only business for twenty miles. Too badly rattled, I knew I was going to suck at the trivia questions.

Melissa Marr said something about "only four copies. I was late and glad to be alive. Then Melissa Marr walked down the aisle. She looked as if she was praying and if she might trip, so I stood up to help her. She put a book in my hands and I thought, "Oh. She must want me to help with the trivia questions. One of four copies in the world. I didn't realize what I had done until the man who periodically looked at me funny leaned over and gave me the low-down.

Fools and children; separate gods: I absolutely loved it. It definitely merited the emergency hotel room all-night read. I can truly say that the ending of the series fulfilled the promises of the beginning. Several times, when I'd come to grips with a character's fate, she threw a wrench in it. I cried a couple of times. I threw the book across the room once and yelled, "Melissa, how could you? At the very end I smiled, misty eyed at the beauty and logic of it all. This is not a tale of Happily Ever After, however. Rather, Marr leaves her meticulously crafted universe and deliciously wicked faeries room to breathe and grow, if only in our own imaginations.

Fans of specific pairings and.. What surprises, you ask? There is no way I'm spoiling, but I will say this: The answers to some of my most burning questions were gracefully obvious. It made re-reading the series feel like finding buried sub-plot treasure. Like everyone else, I love certain Courts and certain pairs.. I traded away my Summer Court bracelet for a Dark Court one, if that gives you a clue. Tempestuous temper tantrums become a Summer Court asset. Nightmare scenarios of drugs and sexual abuse become the Dark Court's greatest strengths: Darkest Mercy continues the series' astonishing power by taking expectations, shattering them, then rearranging all the broken pieces into a strange new reflection, and asking, simply, "Have you considered things this way?

I hadn't known that nightmares could be beautiful, that lies could be more honest than truth, that summer and winter really had nothing to do with temperature, that I'd come to love a character I didn't like at all. As a storytelling vehicle, Darkest Mercy is not my favorite. I would have to rank it second or third among all five books.

This probably has something to do with a thing that happens that I wish didn't but that's all I'm going to say about it now. I mention it to point out that I wasn't entirely happy, but so what. Some others will be thrilled. Ink Exchange was actually my favorite book, which is not at all usual. When considered against the arc of the entire series, Darkest Mercy ties up loose ends but still leaves the universe room to breathe.

Which is exactly what a good finale does. My favorite part of Marr's writing, and what so often goes unrecognized, is her sheer narrative brilliance, and this is by far my favorite part of Darkest Mercy. Yes, I said it. I have advanced degrees in English Literature to back it up, too. Yes, I'm touchy about that. Marr has managed to invent Faerie Courts with their own distinct stylistic traits, including characters, settings, mannerisms, and even Internet hit squads.

But she has also given each Court their own unique narrative technique. I'm going to expound, with the caveat that if you're here for the spoilers or Seth's piercings or Irial's British accent Iri! Part of what make's Marr's universe so strong is that the very language she uses to create it reflects the Court it represents.

Winter and the High Court are both written with more formal diction, complex sentence and paragraph structure, etc. But with the Dark Court, Marr plays with time, warping character's perceptions of it to emphasize emotional power. As readers know, the Dark Court feeds on emotion. Marr uses one of the most innovative narrative techniques I have recently encountered by compressing two points of view to warp time; after all, time loses all meaning in the grip of strong emotion. The stronger the emotion, the greater the warp.

I first encountered this in Chapter 30 of Ink Exchange: She closed her eyes and asked, 'The second day will be better, right? This brief exchange caps less than a page of a powerful montage of addiction and loss in which time is an unreliable marker of reality. The emotional connection is the real power here, once again underscoring a key Dark Court trait. Marr is just that good- she's created a unique stylistic technique that is nothing short of dare I say it literary brilliance.

I invite my colleagues who disagree to examine pages of Ink Exchange. I'll be right here on Good Reads, waiting.

Darkest Mercy

Darkest Mercy serves up more of the same masterful writing, and that is why I love it so. The reasons why we love the books we do are so often tangled and messy. Part of why I love this one is because it is The End to the series that taught me that Faeries and Literature are not mutually exclusive. It hurts me to say goodbye to the characters I love so much, and even the ones I just kind of tolerate. But Marr makes sure that her Faeries are happy enough to suit their natures. After all, if she didn't leave them with enough conflict to scheme and plot and be wicked and lovely then they wouldn't really be happy, would they?

And neither would we. View all 8 comments. Jul 14, Vi Vi rated it liked it. Not sure if I can review this book fully right now. Not great, wasn't expecting much more though on account of my familiarity with Marr's writing style. Some great moments, some annoying as hell moments, and then the conflict was over and the book kind of ended, and I don't have a PROBLEM with how it ended it was very well crafted in a full circle kind of way , but I just couldn't really bring myself to feel anything for anyone.

Half the book was basically the characters filling each other in on shit we already know, and then going somewhere else to discuss shit, and then figuring out what to do about War and then being worried and discussing shit some more. Oh and don't forget Death and his sister, Death, walking around being ominous and then leaving and coming back and being ominous some more. NO ONE slipped up? Come on, man, drama's all about slipping up and making mistakes and coming back from it, not angsting about the same conflict you already angsted about at length throughout the past two books, shit.

The climax fight scene was pretty cool, except maybe I've been pampered by good shounen anime, but fights need to be more than fighting and the people falling and someone angsting over them. A good fight scene moves the plot forward, reveals character, reveals The ups and down of any good tension filled plot need to be there in the climax fight and there wasn't much. Just tons of fighting, Donia gets stabbed, Keenan freaks and Aislinn kills Bananach, all the Death twins walking around cleaning up the mess though I do admit when Keenan gave up his mortality for Donia without a thought it was sweet - though expected.

I don't know, maybe a part of me was expecting something more epic, but the rest of me knew that epic wasn't really Marr's style - nor does it have to be. I'm always in awe of Marr's ability to create intriguing characters and an interesting mythology, and I'm glad I stuck with the series til its end. I'm not sure when I'll be this invested in another YA novel, tbh a mysterious investment, as it remained even when I knew the flaws of this series and Marr's writing would keep me from really, REALLY loving the hell out of the story. Wow, looks like I was up to writing a review.

This was an absolutely perfect ending to this unique series. Although I could have done without books 2 and 4. I hated 2 a lot because I find Irial to be a truly despicable character. And although I really enjoyed Devlin and Ani in book 4, they turned out to be mostly irrelevant to the larger story. I would have liked to see them again. This series was nearly perfect! It was dark without being too dark. There was no shortage of romance and swoon-worthy guys.

I'll admit Keenan finally grew on me This was an absolutely perfect ending to this unique series. I'll admit Keenan finally grew on me in this book. Probably because he finally left Ash alone. I had never disliked him as much as Irial though. He was just too manipulative for my tastes, not downright evil like Irial. But Seth still has my heart in this one.

And the fantasy and faery magic was so prevalent. We are fully immersed into faery courts and politics and war, seeing as nearly all the main characters were faery regents of the various courts. This is the first faery book I have read with more than 2 courts. There were 4 in the beginning, and later 5. Another thing that I really love about this series is that there are so many main characters. Usually a YA book will have 2 leads, a guy and a girl, who usually fall in love.

And that seemed revolutionary to me at the time. But Seth isn't any less of an important character later in the series. Nor is Donia, or Niall. There are so many people you will learn to care about. So many couples you can put your heart behind. And they all got their HEA! They only ever hinted at it, until the end they made it pretty clear. If it wasn't for Irial's character in general, and if the series had kept its focus on the story as a whole instead of each book focusing on a different aspect of the story, I would have loved this series even more than The Iron Fey!

Oct 04, Crystal rated it it was amazing Shelves: The ride throughout this book is griping and painful but very necessary. The story takes off where the last ended, with War gaining strength and the other courts trying to find the strength to fight her. All hell breaks loose among the courts with all the d WOW just wow! All hell breaks loose among the courts with all the deaths and unexpected twists. Ahh my Keenan, I am so very happy for him. I still feel that there is a missing chapter from his life. He made a deal that I thought was going to come back and bite him in his booty, but unless I missed it he got off without having to pay up.

Book pick: ‘Darkest Mercy’ fitting ending to ‘Wicked Lovely’ series | Paranormal Romance

He made perfect choices imo, and I am very glad that he got his HEA. View all 22 comments.

Rat King +Darkest Before Mercy 18kda

May 23, Colleen Houck added it Shelves: The characters in this series are lovable, real, and, at the same time, a little scary which is as it should be in the world of the fey. I loved the conclusion to the series. Everything ended in a very satisfactory way. Bananach was certainly frightening. Wanted to rip her wings off myself, but it's more likely I would have run in the other direction.

I could feel the sunlight and the winter and the creepy dark things on my skin as I read. Dec 08, Lora rated it really liked it Recommends it for: All of the Faerie courts are in peril and both Keenan and Seth are missing. Devoid of the experience and advantages of the other faery monarchs, Aislinn is doing her best to rule and prepare for the impending War being incited by the malevolent Bananach.

But without the Summer King and her newly turned faery lover at her side, how will she protect her already weakened court from destruction? Apparently I'd forgotten exactly how much I enjoy Melissa Marr's writing. She has Actual Rating: She has this way of writing that makes it almost impossible to put her novels down.

It seems like one minute you're on page 10 and the next you're already halfway through. I will admit that this isn't my favorite faery series, but it has had its good moments. I loved the first installment, the second confused the hell out of me, the third was disappointing, and, I realize that Radiant Shadows was a filler, but it was actually my favorite since the first novel, Wicked Lovely. I'm not sure why, but I really liked Devlin and Ani's story. I thought it was a nice addition to an otherwise okay series. So, for me, Radiant Shadows was an improvement.

But Darkest Mercy just blows all of that out of the water. There's one thing I look for most in a series, and that is that I'll be able to re-read it in future and not have to take a loss because I bought the whole series and ended up disliking it as a whole. In most areas, Darkest Mercy didn't disappoint me. There are some things that I wish the author would've done differently, like make the novel longer so that some of her characters' endings wouldn't have been so rushed, but all in all I'm still happy with the outcome. Throughout this series my feelings toward Aislinn's character have alternated between liking her and hating her; the latter especially in Fragile Eternity I think that's my least favorite of this series.

I strongly dislike heroines that are indecisive in their relationships. In past installments it seemed as if she were forever leading Seth and Keenan along. And yes, I know there's all of the ridiculous court rules and duties that Aislinn had to consider, but that didn't mean I had to like it. At the beginning of the series, Aislinn starts out as an average mortal girl with the gift of Sight the ability to see faeries whereas others cannot.

Initally, Aislinn fears and avoids faeries, but she ends up becoming one and ruling over an entire court of them. So her character changes and evolves quite a bit over the course of the series. And she definitely steps up to the plate in this as the Summer Queen and kicks some ass come battle time. Gotta love a feisty heroine. So, in the end, I'm quite happy with her character.

Donia has been my favorite character since book 1. She has a heart of gold that's been crushed by the King she loves, but through everything she still holds strong and takes on the role of the Winter Queen along with all of its duties. Like with Aislinn, I've always kind of been on the fence with my feelings toward Keenan. Somehow I never really took a liking to him as I did almost instantaneously with Seth this could very well have something to do with Seth's piercings. He completely blew me away and I couldn't have been happier with his character in this. Reasons being that he's not in this enough for my liking, and I think his character kind of got the shaft.

I still love him, but I think the way his story is wrapped up should've been handled differently. I'll handle Niall and Irial's characters together since they belong together this is getting kind of long. Well, if you've read Radiant Shadows then you know that Irial's character is stabbed by Bananach towards the end.

And so, in this, Niall's basically a complete mess. She still wanted love. Tell me you're saying there's still a chance, Don? And I think most fans of the series will be happy with the outcome. The conclusion of this series has made me an even bigger fan of Melissa Marr and I'm eagerly awaiting her next novel, Graveminder , set to release May View all 6 comments. Feb 26, Heather rated it it was ok Shelves: Over the course of four books and two short stories, I had become emotionally invested in the outcome of this series.

Marr has created a fantastical world with extraordinary scope and creativity that I reveled in with zeal that could rival the Summer Court. I would lose myself in the writing, which I found sparse and yet poetic. And her characters, what can I say of these captivating characters?

They made me feel! I cried over their heart break and would break out into a slight sheen when they were tasked with making a difficult, seemingly impossible choice. Naturally, when a reader loves characters as much as I loved these, you want to see them happy; however, I expected, nay, wanted that happiness to have an exacting price. In a series that trumpets choice and sacrifice as the primary themes, I never imagined or even wanted a bow to be tied around the end.

It would never do the series, or these characters, justice. But a bow is what I got. Marr just has a beautiful way with words, and I knew in my heart that if Marr could write such a lovely acknowledgment to her friends, fans, colleagues, and family, she would write one hell of an ending, right?


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What a major blow. So what if I cheated and read the last 5 or so pages about 50 pages into the book, I still should have bawled my eyes out when he died. He was my favorite! It was like an out of body experience. Where was his blaze of glory?!

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I get that they originally loved other people, but there is something enticing about reshaping your heart to fit around a consuming passion. But maybe that is just me. Nothing happened the way I hoped, or even expected. And the only character who paid an exacting price was Keenan, which was a shocker to end all shockers. Mostly, I'm befuddled, and scratching my head as to how the events came to pass.

View all 31 comments. Jan 24, Terri rated it it was amazing Shelves: Each book is a story revolving around four faery courts: Winter, Summer, Dark, and High. The Winter and Summer Courts are the embodiment of their seasons, the Dark Court is surrounded by emotion, and the High Court is bound to provide order. But, Bananach, being no longer content with discord, wants war, and War will go to any length to get what she wants. The only way to stop her reign of terror is to kill her. It is said, however, that if Order or Discord were to die than it would end the lives of all faeries.

It is too dangerous to leave Bananach alive, but can she be killed? The Regents waited too long to act and now War is upon them literally and figuratively. Everyone, including in the readers suffers. War has power and she is winning. The Courts have to pull together or they will crumble, and every Faery will either have to serve fealty to Bananach or die. Every character is hanging off a cliff at the end of Radiant Shadows, and Darkest Mercy ties all the threads together. There are choices to be made, allies to be found, battles to be fought, and loves to be won.

I'm writing this immediately after finishing the book, so please bear with me. The only words I was able to utter 10 minutes ago were, "Oh my God", over and over. I can tell you this right now: I will not be able to do Darkest Mercy justice. A while ago I was wondering if Melissa Marr was heartless.

I am warning you: This is the final book of the series, so you already have favourites. You are attached, and you love certain characters. On the flip side, there are characters you want to burn in the fiery pits of hell. Yes, I am personally holding a grudge towards Bananach. Putting it lightly, I was and currently am very emotional. This book broke my heart.

What happened to these characters broke my heart. Right now, I cannot form words, but what they had to face Melissa Marr has created amazing characters.

I want to live with them. I want to keep reading their stories, but I think it is best that it ended they way it did. I do not want to say anything that would spoil the ending for you, but I will say this: If you do not cry, you will scream. These characters, and the writing caused so many strong emotions that I couldn't contain myself.

Darkest Mercy is the first book that ever made me scream. And I wouldn't have ended it any other way. There was one relationship that I believe had a definite destination throughout the entire series, but EVERY other one surprised me. You would have never seen what was coming, and then it changed direction again. I was wrong in nearly all of my predictions. You will not see anything coming, and I am so happy for that.

Everything was a shock. And I love it to pieces. Melissa Marr is as cruel as she is kind. Keenan is a fool in love, but we already know that. Irial is my favourite character and it is rare that I can choose. Seth is driven, and kind, and the most pure.

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Aislinn is hard and bright. Niall is as terrible as he is vulnerable. Sorcha is out of her element. Bananach is crazy … As if I needed to point that out. Darkest Mercy is a love story. Yes, at times it will rip your heart out. I won this Advanced Reader's Copy from Goodreads. Receiving this ARC did not influence my review in any way. View all 5 comments. Apr 26, Danny rated it it was amazing Shelves: Darkest Mercy was brilliant. I have no other words to describe it other than it had everything you ever wished for an ending of a series!

It was enthralling, full of emotions, it has characters that will surprise you and you will shed tears, but in the end you will close the book and have closure. It has the perfect balance between light and dark. I thank Mrs Marr from the bottom of my heart for this final piece of awesomeness! Ever since I started Wicked Lovely I was fascinated with this story Mrs Marr created, with the world of Faeries living in the human realm among Mortals but most of all with this incredible characters created.

With every book you got to know a new set of characters, yet the other ones were never really neglected and moved on. With Darkest Mercy this now all came to an end, the captivating story woven together now finally pulled all together ready for the final battle. Decision are about to be made that leave you speechless - from characters you would expect it the least.

Questions we asked ourselves will be answered. Will Ash and Keenan find a way to bring the Summer Court back to his real power? Will Donia - find Peace in being the new Winter Queen, or will be still grief over the loss of Keenan her one and true love? Is there any way she'll ever find love? Will Irial survive the poison or die.

What will happen with Niall, with Leslie? Will be fight for Ash - to be with her? The storytelling in the last book was perfect. We switched back and forth between all the important characters and but everything is perfectly intertwined to that you'll never feel cheated when switching to another scenery. In the end, all have to work together to defeat War, to defeat Disorder who is getting more and more violent.

The Wicked Lovely books were never just light and sunshine. There was always the darkness and cruelty lingering but I admire this books for this combination. Darkest Mercy had the perfect balance between cruelty, darkness, sunshine and hope. I was amazed by the development and deepness of all the character. They outgrew themselves and made decisions I never expected them to to. Without any spoilers I can tell Keenan will surprise you the most, but also Ash finally arrived and took the place where she was always ment to be.

Apart from all the amazement you wil shed tears - but truly, what would be a good book without any tears? Emotions is what moves a plot and you have the perfect amount here in Darkest Mercy. I'm thankful that HarperTeen provided us with a copy and I can assure you my review is truly and really honest. I absolutely loved and adored this book, it was the perfect ending for a wonderful series. For some reason the summer court peeve me. So Books two and four were always my favourites because of how much they focus on the Darker aspects.

There is a lot going on in this book.

I did miss Ani and Dev. I grew attached to them from the last book, and they were the only people missing — everyone came out to play in this instalment. And it was awesome. So things kicked off, and things got bloody, and you know what, I had goosebumps. Everyone came together and were fighting for their lives and their loves, and it was just epic. And everyone finally sorts themselves out! But I was so excited that he finally got to be happy. They are not weak or rely on their men to do the dirty work — they get stuck in, they get their hands dirty, and quite often, they do a better job than the guys might have done.

But they are still likeable and human, and I think in that lies their greatness. My final gushing point is the endings.